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On the Death of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche
13 years ago
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche died this month. He was the son of the grandson of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, who started the family's work on sports cars. He started working at the family business in the late 1950s and eventually became the designer of the Porsche company's most successful car design, that of the Porsche 911. He also designed the famous 904 car for Porsche. As a bit of a Porsche fan, I couldn't help but feel a little sad that "Butzi", as his family nickname dubbed him, has died.
After the Porsche family no longer ran the car company, he went on to head the Porsche Design company which released various products with often intriguingly minimalist design characteristics from hard drives to watches. His work on the 911 was not a huge departure in design, but it did have enough of a spark of originality and style to have lasted for a long time. Though we shouldn't kid ourselves regarding the design's longevity being an absolute, as Porsche actually tried to retire the 911 at least once in its history, but was unable to successfully replace it with the 928. But then, it's also arguably true that the 928 really didn't have as relatively timeless a design as the 911.
Now, for better or for worse, Porsche seems stuck with the basic 911 shape as being representative of its entire line of cars. Some people complain that all Porsches look alike, but then, so do Astons lately, among other car lines. And the same fans that complain of samey Porsche designs, proclaim a loss of Ye Olde Porsche Flavor whenever the company attempts to try something new. Porsche may be stuck with the 911 shape forever, as any other type of Porsche is quietly regarded as not being a "True Porsche" in the eyes of many.
So, whether he knew it at the moment or not, Ferdinand Porsche gave us the shape of Porsche cars for his time and times to come. As a designer, you just never know when and how your influence will be felt. He didn't consider himself an artist. But I think we know better. RIP Butzi.
Rave
After the Porsche family no longer ran the car company, he went on to head the Porsche Design company which released various products with often intriguingly minimalist design characteristics from hard drives to watches. His work on the 911 was not a huge departure in design, but it did have enough of a spark of originality and style to have lasted for a long time. Though we shouldn't kid ourselves regarding the design's longevity being an absolute, as Porsche actually tried to retire the 911 at least once in its history, but was unable to successfully replace it with the 928. But then, it's also arguably true that the 928 really didn't have as relatively timeless a design as the 911.
Now, for better or for worse, Porsche seems stuck with the basic 911 shape as being representative of its entire line of cars. Some people complain that all Porsches look alike, but then, so do Astons lately, among other car lines. And the same fans that complain of samey Porsche designs, proclaim a loss of Ye Olde Porsche Flavor whenever the company attempts to try something new. Porsche may be stuck with the 911 shape forever, as any other type of Porsche is quietly regarded as not being a "True Porsche" in the eyes of many.
So, whether he knew it at the moment or not, Ferdinand Porsche gave us the shape of Porsche cars for his time and times to come. As a designer, you just never know when and how your influence will be felt. He didn't consider himself an artist. But I think we know better. RIP Butzi.
Rave
